4.5

A cigarette. That was what Jane needed right now. A nice menthol cigarette to cool the back of her throat. Too bad she had smoked her last one an hour ago. It was a good thing her shift was going to end in twenty minutes. That was, as long as no one came in. Sure, she could pass a table off to Beth, but Jane needed the money. Money didn’t come easy to a seventeen year old living alone.

Jane stared at the clock with her dark eyes, willing it to move faster. All it earned her was a laugh from Beth. “Staring isn’t going to make it move any faster.” The younger girl rolled her eyes. Of course, she knew that, but she really didn’t have anything else to do. “You can always wipe down your tables again,” Beth suggested as if reading Jane’s mind.

“I already did that. Three times. Any more and I’m going to start rubbing the paint off of them.” The place had been dead since all of the drunks had stumbled off at six in the morning. Most people after that had to-go orders, which didn’t pay shit. At least the drunks tipped well. If it weren’t for them, Jane would be penniless.

“What about the floor?” Beth asked, hands on hips. It reminded Jane of her mother. She made the same gesture when Jane had already done something before she asked.

Jane rolled her eyes, a smug smile on her face. “Not my job, but I did it anyways.”

“Is there anything you didn’t do?”

“If you look around, you’ll see that this is the cleanest this place ever was. You’d think I was on meth.”

Beth choked back laughter. “That’s not funny. Drugs are no joke.” The older woman should know. It had taken many years, but Beth had finally gotten clean. Her drug of choice had been heroin, but viewed all drugs as the same, things that ruined your life.

Another roll of Jane’s dark eyes. “God, you sound like one of those after school specials.” Though it was kind of annoying, it warmed Jane’s heart. Someone cared about her well-being. She hadn’t felt that since her mother died three years prior. Her father was still alive and stopped by to visit, but it was hard to tell if he cared. He was a hard man to read, and lecturing wasn’t really his thing.

It was Beth’s turn to roll her bright blue eyes. “Get your skinny ass back to work. You got customers coming.” She gestured with her head toward the door.

Sure enough two men were walking through the door. One white with blonde hair, blue eyes, and a shirt that was almost a size too small for him. The other was black with graying hair and dark eyes, looking a little more than disheveled. It appeared he had more than a rough couple of years. Both were cops from the looks of their badges and guns, detectives from the lack of uniform. They were there for the free coffee. Cops wouldn’t come there willingly for anything else. Not in that neighborhood.

Jane readied a smile on her face and grabbed a couple of coffee mugs and the pot of coffee she had just brewed minutes earlier. The smile faltered when she turned and she nearly dropped the items in her hands. Her face became paler than it normally was and she started to shake. Beth moved quickly to her, asking if she was alright. “I-I’m suddenly not feeling good. Could you take this one for me?”

“Oh god, yes.” Beth retrieved the mugs and pot from Jane’s shaking hands. Her hands brushed against Jane’s cold skin and gazed at the girl with worried glazed eyes. “Go sit in the back for a few. I’ll have someone take you home.”

Jane shook her head violently. “I’d rather just go home now. I might puke all over the place.” A lie, of course, but one she knew would get Beth to let her walk home by herself. Nobody wanted to clean up someone else’s vomit.

Beth sighed. “Alright. Get your stuff. I’ll clock out for you. Text me when you’re home!” The older woman called after Jane, who had already turned to gather her things, a purse and light jacket; not that it was jacket weather.

Once her things were in hand, Jane all but ran out of the diner, taking care to exit through the back. Please don’t have seen me. Please don’t have seen me, she prayed to no one in particular. He had been hidden behind the black cop so well she hadn’t seen him. Gabriel. The archangel and creep. He always seemed to pop up wherever she didn’t want him to and proceeded to hit on her. To be fair, he hit on all women he deemed to be an appropriate age, seventeen though he started on her last year. It made it even creepier that he was her uncle. Not that angels view family the same as humans.

“Ja-ane,” an all too familiar voice called from the dark alley just inches in front of her.

Goddamnit. She froze trying to decide if she should keep going or not, pretending she didn’t hear him. Her window was gone when he popped his black haired head from around the corner, his gray-green eyes sparkling with mischief. Fuck. She headed into the alley. “What do you want?” She needed a cigarette more than ever. Even being near him stressed her out.

“That’s not very nice,” he chided, wagging his fingers in her face. She snarled and attempted to bite his fingers. She hated when people put their hands in her face. “What are you, a dog?” he asked after pulling his hand back.

“What do you want?” she repeated, emphasizing each word.

“Have you seen your father?” His tone no longer child-like but deep and serious. It threw Jane off and frightened her, though she would never admit to the last.

“Um, no. Not for a few weeks. Why?” That wasn’t unusual. Lucifer popped in when he pleased. Consideration for others wasn’t exactly his forte.

“Hm.” Gabriel’s eyes shifted skyward. They darted back and forth, as if searching for a particular cloud. “No one has seen him. Not ever his Sin Eater.” Jane made a noise. No one was supposed to know about Grace. The only reason she did was because the woman lived in the same building, and Lucifer had decided to introduce them in the most unusual manner (he had called Grace in her apartment while Jane was taking a shower).

A sly smile spread across the angel’s face. “I follow my brother closely. Of course I knew of Grace.” He said her name as if he were speaking of a delectable meal. “My brother has good taste. Though she is a little more violent than I prefer.”

Oh god. Poor Grace, Jane silently pitied the woman. Any attention from Gabriel was unwanted attention. “Can we get back to my father?” She would rather not have the angel go further into Creeperville.

His eyes shifted back to her. “I thought we were speaking of him.” His head tilted to the side like a confused puppy. It made Jane want to vomit. “I believe Grace is searching for him.” His voice was once again serious, his head straight. “We should have little to worry about with her on the case.”

The sarcasm wasn’t lost on Jane, but she ignored it, no matter how much it irritated her. She just needed to shift the conversation in a different way. One that wouldn’t end with her slapping the angel, again. The last time, she had hurt herself more than him. “Why are you following that cop around?”

“Good question!” He almost sounded proud of her. It sent unpleasant shivers across her skin. “Detective David King is the lead in Grace’s case. I am trying to steer him away from her. It seems there is something working against me.” The smile on his face and the humor in his tone didn’t match his cold, dead eyes. “Someone is trying to get her caught, and I don’t know why. I don’t like not knowing.”

“Who would want her to get caught?” The Others, as Jane liked to call them, did everything in their power to make sure that none of them ever ended up in the hands of humans. Humans weren’t exactly known for their kind treatment of the unknown. Angels and demons might fare well, but djinn would not. They were nothing more than humans with magic, minus their demonic appearance.

“Another good question and one I don’t know the answer to.” The irritation in his voice was evident. “I do suspect they are trying to release something that should stay caged.” The teenager had no idea what he was talking about, and wanted to keep it that way. Her father always told her the less she knew, the safer she was. She doubted he had taken Gabriel stalking him into consideration.

The conversation was dying, and Jane was ready to kill it. “I need to get home. Beth will worry if I don’t text her soon.”

“Best not let Beth worry. I can take you home.” A lecherous grin appeared on his face as he opened his arms wide.

“Fuck no!” One, she didn’t want him to touch her and two it hurt like a bitch. A person traveling alone was painless, but two or more was not. Lucifer explained that it was because the body was being torn down at the molecular level and being put together simultaneously.  When multiple people traveled it did the same, but put them back in wrong spots and had to tear them apart repeatedly until they were right. She had done it once, and that was more than enough.

Gabriel shrugged. “Your loss.” With that he was gone.

When Jane was absolutely sure he was not coming back, she took off running. Before she had even reached the apartment building her text tone had gone off several times. Sry. Stopped to grab meds. she replied to Beth’s frantic messages of where she was when she got into her apartment.

Let me know next time. I was worried.

Wht r u? My mom? lol. She knew Beth would get a kick out of that.

Damn right I am! Now go get some rest you brat.

Jane laughed kicking off her shoes. Beth was the closest thing she had to a mother now, and Jane was the closest Beth would ever come to having a child. Sometimes, it made her miss her mom terribly, but it was nice knowing someone was there looking after her. Even if she was overbearing at times. Like when it came to Grace. Beth didn’t want her to go near the woman. To be fair, she didn’t know what Grace was. Just knew that she scared the shit of of her. It made Beth believe Grace was dangerous. Well, she was, but she would never harm Jane. Not just because the teenager was her master’s daughter, but because that was the way she was. To her Jane was nothing more than an annoyance, which was probably due to her habit of breaking into the Sin Eater’s apartment and waking her.

A sigh too tired for a seventeen year old left Jane. She was going to have to talk with Grace. See if she knew anything about Lucifer. Gabriel may not have faith in her, but Jane did. Grace would find her father. Not because she wanted to, but because she had to. As far as they knew, Grace needed Lucifer alive so she could live. If she didn’t need him, Jane wasn’t sure if the Sin Eater would lift a finger to help him. Grace seemed to hate Lucifer with an unreasonable passion. Jane didn’t understand it and she doubted the older woman did either. Probably just blamed him for her death, which wasn’t his fault. Maybe some time will get her to change her mind. She’s got plenty of it now.

A ding from her phone prompted Jane to check the message. It was from Beth. STAY AWAY FROM GRACE! All capitals. Looked like she was serious.

K, she text back. Beth would know that she planned on going to see Grace and would believe it was out of spite. She would probably bang on her door when she got off of work to try and talk her out of it. Jane rolled her eyes just thinking about it.

Like Beth was one to talk about hanging around dangerous people. She was dating a guy that beat her, and ignored Jane when she said to leave the fucker. Said it was different because she’s in love. When Jane shot back that Grace would never hurt her, Beth almost hit her. She would see it in her eyes. Never had Jane been afraid of her mother figure until then. Afraid and extremely pissed off, she had stopped off and didn’t talk to Beth for a week. Loneliness eventually sunk in and Jane bellied-up to Beth apologizing. Beth acted like nothing had ever happened, something she was very good at.

By the time Jane had reached her bed, she was pissed. Her phone had gone off three times, each time souring her mood more and more. She hadn’t read the messages, but didn’t need to. It was Beth, who was going to keep texting until she answered. So Jane turned off the phone instead, tossing it on her bed. She grabbed a fresh pack of cigarettes from her carton on the counter and lit it. Taking a deep drag from it, she stared at her phone. It laid on her bed, face up and dead to the world. “Stupid bitch,” she muttered under her breath, exhaling the smoke.

4.5- April Fools Chapter

Her name had been Claire. Claire DeSanta. She had emotionally manipulated, abused, raped and murdered a string of young men across the city. Grace saw, felt, all the memories of every single case, flooding through her mind. She would’ve been horrified if not for the euphoria flooding her head, overwhelming her thoughts.

She rocked back on her haunches, allowing herself to revel in the sensation for a second. In what was quickly becoming a pattern, she’d followed DeSanta by her scent until she was alone in an alleyway. There, she’d pounced, teeth sharpening into fangs, one hand slapping over the other woman’s mouth before she could scream. Then, she’d dug in, tearing out her heart and swallowing it in frantic gulps.

“Are you done?” Tony asked from the end of the alleyway. He was leaning against the wall, arms crossed, glaring at her behind a pair of sunglasses.

She rose, and the hellhounds melted out of the shadows to flank her. “Fuck off, Tony,” she replied, without any real vitriol. “Yeah, whatever, do your thing now.”

“Oh, well, thank you for your permission,” he said sarcastically. “I’ll get right on that. Maybe you should stick a broom up my ass so I can sweep the floor while I’m at it.”

“Maybe I will,” she said as she turned and began walking away, the hounds trailing a few steps behind.

She heard Tony mutter something incomprehensible, but she didn’t bother turning around. The high was beginning to fade, and now she was just feeling tired.

“Home?” asked Pup, bounding up beside her.

“Yeah,” she said distractedly, scratching him on the head. “Home.”

—–

She didn’t bother hanging her coat properly, just throwing it at the rack and letting it stay how it landed. Kicking off her shoes and letting her hair down from the bun she’d put it in to keep it clean of blood, she dragged herself to the sink and began washing away the blood that covered her mouth. Watery crimson ran in rivulets down the metal walls and into the dark hole of the drain, and the coppery, metallic taste in her mouth began to fade. She wondered idly if there were some way to detect which pipes blood in the water had come from, and if the amount of blood that was ending up in her mouth would stain her teeth. Hopefully, the answer to both was no.

Once done, she plopped herself down onto the couch. Legs hanging over the armrest, she reached for the remote on the coffee table without looking over. It wasn’t there, and after a second of scrabbling aimlessly, she sighed and rolled over to reach underneath the couch. It took a few seconds of swinging her arm back and forth, but she hit something solid, and clutched her hand around the hard plastic of the remote. She pulled it out with another sigh, a satisfied one this time, and pointed it at the TV and the white-suited figure standing in front of it.

“Fuck!” She jolted backwards, nearly falling off the couch before getting a hold of herself. “Fucking… aghhh.” She buried her face in her hands, taking deep breaths to try and calm her suddenly-racing heart. “You have to stop doing that.”

Lucifer’s face was impassive. “You have done good work today, Grace Barnes. You are learning quickly.”

“Uh huh,” she said, sitting upright. Honestly, she was too tired to deal with this right now. “Because the Prince of Hell shows up just to offer mild congratulations. What do you want?”

His face didn’t move, but somehow, Grace could sense a change in his demeanor. More energy, somehow. “I want to show you something. You have questioned my reasons for acting as I have. I feel the time has come to answer some of those questions.”

Grace sat up straight, exhaustion forgotten. “Really? Are you fucking with me?”

There was a flash of light and the sudden, overwhelming smell of brimstone. Lucifer glared down at her with burning eyes, and she would have swore in that moment she could see every single soul burning in Hell, and hear their tortured screams.  “The Lord of Darkness does not play jests, Sin Eater,” he boomed with a voice that seemed to have an iron grip on her very soul. “It would be unwise to forget this .”

Despite herself, she cowered in her chair. “Sorry,” she eventually managed to squeak out.

He stared at her for a few moments, rage burning in his eyes, then his presence suddenly receded. Grace let out the breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding, slowly unclenching her body.

Lucifer made a gesture, and a black doorway appeared in the air next to him. “Come,” he said curtly.

She scrambled to her feet. “Just let me grab my shoes-”

He cut her off with a wave of his hand. “Unnecessary.”

“…well, all right then.”

He turned and walked through the doorway, and, hesitantly, Grace followed.

Inside, it was pure black. Lucifer’s figure was still perfectly visible, and when she turned back, she could still see her apartment, but none of the light seemed to be able to pass through the doorway.

Lucifer began walking in a seemingly random direction, and Grace hurried to catch up with them. He walked with a regimented gait, not hurried, but determined, and she did her best to match it.

They walked in silence for a minute. “Why a Sin Eater?” Lucifer asked, seemingly at random.

“What?”

“Why ‘Eater’? Why not ‘Reaper’, or ‘Consumer’?”

“Is… are you actually asking me, or…”

“No. I am not. There is a reason for this, as there is a reason that your abilities are centered around taste. You, Grace Barnes, are a test.”

“A test?” She wasn’t sure she was following.

“Yes, a test. Not everything I have given you shall pass on, and some that you don’t have will be. In fact, it might be more accurate to say that I will be doing the opposite of what I did with you.”

Now she definitely knew she wasn’t following. “I’m sorry, but what the fuck are you talking about? A test? A test for what? What do you mean, the opposite? Who else are you giving these powers to?”

Lucifer chuckled dryly. “Patience.” He stopped, pausing for a second, then nodded. “We are here,” he said, tilting his head to the side to indicate a white doorway that had not been there a second again. Grace squinted into it, but couldn’t make out anything but white.

“This, Grace Barnes, is the culmination of my efforts. This is the reason I brought you back from the dead, and the reason behind all I have done on your measly plain of existence. This, is my greatest work.” He beckoned her, and together they stepped through the door. “Behold.”

For a second, the light blinded her, and she held up a hand to shield her eyes. As they slowly adjusted, things began to come into focus, and she braced herself for whatever horror was enough for Lucifer to consider it his crowning achievement.

The colors came first, bone-white and bright crimson and a black almost as deep as the void they had travelled through. Awful wailing assaulted her ears, and her nose filled with the awful stench of cooking flesh and-

…pleather?

As her vision returned fully, she turned around in a full circle, taking in her surroundings properly. The black and white were tiles, the bright red was the faux-leather coating on the seats. The ‘wailing’ emanated from a retro-style jukebox, and she realized that it was simply a classic song filtered through the box’s poor-quality speakers. The smell of sizzling flesh was exactly that; only it wasn’t human flesh, it was burgers, popping and spitting on a grill barely visible from behind the counter.

It was, in other words, the spitting image of a stereotypical 1950s diner.

She spun on Lucifer, who was standing slightly behind her with a contented smile. “What. The fuck. Is this?”

“As I said,” he replied, with an uncanny amount of energy. “My masterpiece.”

She struggled to get her words out. “How the fuck is a fucking diner your ‘masterpiece’?!” she eventually managed to exclaim.

“Not just the one, Grace Barnes. This is merely the first of what will be many.”

“Wha-” she spluttered, barely even able to form coherent words, “I don’t… how are you even… what?!”

“Simple,” he said, slinging an arm around her shoulder and sweeping the other one through the air. “Picture it, Grace: a chain where every product smells as good as those hearts you consume. People will be flocking in from all over. Every other fast food store will go out of business! Millions will lose their jobs! The people will grow gluttonous and weak! It’s the greatest idea I’ve ever had, and that includes those plastic cases on scissors, and hedge fund managers! I got a lot of mileage out of those.” He clicked his fingers, then broke away from Grace, who could only stand there, staring in bemusement. He dug around in his white suit jacket for a second, then pulled out a flip notebook. “Anyway, I wanted to run some slogans by you.” He pulled out a pair of glasses, donned them, and then cleared his throat. “‘Food to die for!’. ‘So good it’s almost a sin’. ‘Devilishly good’. ‘We are run by the literal devil and our food contains the hearts of mass murderers’. ‘Finger-eatin’ good’.” He tucked the notebook back into his jacket. “Personally, I’m leaning towards the second-to-last, but I’m pretty fond of the first one as well. Thoughts?”

With her mouth already hanging open, all she could manage was a strangled croak. He seemed to take it as an affirmation. “Excellent!” he crowed, rubbing his hands together. “I knew you were the right pick for this! Oh, but you haven’t even seen the best bit yet!” He strode towards the doors leading outside, and she followed, more out of inertia than anything else.

Outside, he led her a few steps away, then grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her around. “Check it out,” he said eagerly, pointing up at the roof. “I’m pretty proud of it.”

Sitting on top of the roof was a sign. It glowed brightly in red and white, a neon star against the black night sky.

“Sin Eatery,” proclaimed the sign in bright, stylized letters.

“So?” asked Lucifer, turning to look at her with an eager grin. “What do you think?”

Grace stared up at it. “…I think I’d like to go back to being dead now.”

________

April Fools! I hoped that you enjoyed that chapter. This chapter was done in an April Fools swap on Webfictionguide. I hope you all enjoyed it.

Chapter was written by Knifleman who writes the web serial Outliers. If you enjoyed this chapter and are interested in reading more by Knifleman you can read his web serial here.